The Boston Bruins lost more than just the game Monday night.
During the first period of Boston’s tilt with the Toronto Maple Leafs, defenseman Kevan Miller took a puck off the throat and left the game. It was announced in the second he wouldn’t return to the eventual 4-2 loss at Scotiabank Arena.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy provided a positive, but brief update on Miller’s status after the game.
“He got it in the throat so he went to the hospital for observation,” he said as seen on NESN’s Bruins postgame coverage. “Right now, it doesn’t look serious, which is great news for Kevan and his family. But they’ll keep him overnight and hopefully tomorrow his breathing will be back to normal and he’ll come back and join us … obviously we wish him well and hopefully there’s no further damage there.
Cassidy added: “I don’t know if there’s a timeline, if he’s back in (the lineup) Thursday if it’s that simple,” he said, per the Bruins. “But right now he’s out of any danger from what we’ve heard.”
Boston already is shorthanded on the blue line with Zdeno Chara (MCL), Urho Vaakanainen (concussion) and Charlie McAvoy (concussion) all sidelined. Miller already has missed time this season after he blocked a shot in October against the Edmonton Oilers.
Here are some other notes from Monday’s Bruins-Maple Leafs game:
— David Pastrnak was scoreless in his last five games heading into Monday’s tilt. He quickly changed that in the first with his 18th goal of the season, then followed it up in the second with another tally. It marked his 20th two-goal game of his career.
The success against Toronto is familiar to the winger.
— Boston battled hard for the full 60 minutes but couldn’t connect on a number of opportunities in front of the net. At the end of the day, however, Cassidy believed his team should have won.
“From my point of view I thought we were the better team,” he said. “Toronto played to their strengths at times …Â but overall I thought our possession time, getting plays to the slot, winning puck battles, getting second chances was very good for us. I was pleased with the effort. … did a lot of things good enough to win but it didn’t go our way.”
— The Bruins emptied their net in the third period with significant time left. Cassidy provided a number of reasons for doing so after the game.
“We still had a timeout, there was two-and-a-half minutes, faceoff in (Toronto’s) end,” he said. “Guys were fresh so we decided to go after it. … Obviously it got away from us … some of those shots have to hit the net. We were off net with some good looks.”
